Morocco came in the fourth position worldwide for Schengen visa applications in 2023, while leading both Africa and the Arab world in this regard.
Moroccans submitted a total of 591,404 Schengen visa applications in 2023, marking a 39.7% increase compared to 2022, according to the SchengenVisaInfo website.
The same source noted that China topped the list of countries with the highest visa demand in 2023, with Chinese citizens submitting 1.1 million applications. This marks China’s comeback to the top spot for the first time since 2018 when Turkiye overtook it.
Regarding changes, Turkey, which was ranked as the top applicant country in 2022, dropped to second place. Meanwhile, India maintained its third position, and Morocco came in the fourth place.
Besides China, there was a noticeable shift in visa application rates among Russian applicants in 2023. Russia moved down to fifth place among applicant countries from its previous position of second in 2022, marking a decrease of 24.2 %.
The SchengenVisaInfo report also confirmed a decline in the rejection rates of Schengen visa applications, with only 16% of the total applications being rejected, representing approximately 1.6 million rejections. This is compared to rejection rates of 17.9 % in 2022 and 13.4% in 2021.
It also mentioned that refusal rates for applicants coming from Belarus, Russia, Turkiye, and Iran were higher in 2023. The rejection rate increased from 10.2% to 10.6% for Russians and to 16.1% for Turks. Around 30.3% of applications from Iran were rejected in 2023, up from 25.2% recorded in 2022.
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